The 94th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours will feature a capacity grid of 62 cars, but there will be fewer contenders fighting for the overall win in the Hypercar class.
Porsche’s departure from the top division of the World Endurance Championship has contributed to a decline in the number of Hypercar entries to 18 in 2026, down from 21 last year.
The German manufacturer had helped propel the top class to a record tally in 2025, fielding three 963s on a factory basis, with privateer Proton Competition entering a fourth example of the Multimatic chassis.
Although the Volkswagen Group brand was eligible to participate in Hypercar this year courtesy of its 2025 IMSA GTP title, its exit from the eight-round WEC prevented it from taking up its auto-invite.
Another notable absence from this year’s Le Mans is Action Express Racing, which had been racing at La Sarthe every year since the introduction of the LMDh ruleset in 2023.
AXR’s surprise exit leaves three Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh cars in Hypercar: the two full-season factory cars entered by Jota, plus an additional entry fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing. WTR, which raced at Le Mans for the first time last year after rejoining Cadillac’s fold, will carry an unchanged driver line-up comprising Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor.
The departures of Porsche and AXR have been partially offset by the arrival of Hyundai’s luxury marque Genesis, which will field a pair of Oreca-based GMR001 LMDh cars in the full WEC.
Otherwise, the Hypercar field remains largely stable, with eight manufacturers present on the grid: Aston Martin, Toyota, Cadillac, BMW, Genesis, Ferrari, Alpine and Peugeot.
Of those eight brands, Ferrari will head into Le Mans on the back of three consecutive victories, while WEC stalwart Toyota will debut its rebranded TR001 Hybrid after completing a major overhaul of its LMH contender over the winter. Alpine, meanwhile, is set for its final Le Mans appearance for the time being, following its decision to withdraw from the WEC at the end of the season.
A larger LMP2 field
#24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 – Gibson: Naveen Rao, Cem Bolukbasi, Colin Braun, #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 – Gibson: Renger Van Der Zande, Pietro Fittipaldi, David Heinemeier Hansson
Photo by: Marc Fleury
A total of 19 LMP2 cars will contest the secondary prototype division, including 10 in the Pro-Am sub-category. This represents a modest increase over 2025, when the class featured 17 cars.
Reigning LMP2 champion Inter Europol will return with a pair of Oreca 07s, both entered under the standard P2 sub-category this time, while the likes of United Autosport and Proton Competition will also field two cars each.
Several teams are joining or returning to Le Mans this year, including DKR Engineering, IMSA regular CrowdStrike Racing by APR, Vector Sport, Duqueine Team, CLX Motorsport and RD Limited. On the other hand, RLR M Sport and CLR Pure Rxing are absent from this year’s field.
Most LMP2 teams didn’t announce their full driver line-ups, but it has been revealed that new McLaren Hypercar signing Mikkel Jensen will drive the #22 United Autosports Oreca alongside Rasmus Lindh and Gregoire Saucy. Other notable names in the LMP2 class include Doriane Pin (Duqueine), Pietro Fittipaldi (Vector), Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly (Inter Europol), Louis Deletraz and Dane Cameron (AO by TF), and Oliver Jarvis (United Autosports).
Expanded LMGT3 grid
#27 Heart Of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3: Ian James, Mattia Drudi, Zacharie Robichon
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The LMGT3 has grown to 25 entries with both Aston Martin and Corvette adding an extra car compared to last year, but with Porsche’s attack depleted after Iron Dames’s decision to pull out of the WEC.
The Heart of Racing’s two Aston Martin Vantage GT3s entered for the full WEC season will be supplemented by an additional Vantage, run under the Racing Spirit of Leman banner. The last-named team ran one car under its name in the full WEC last year, but is absent from this year’s grid as THOR takes over both entries.
Corvette will also increase its presence, with TF entering a third car under the Racing Team by Turkey moniker and Orey Fidani’s 13 Autosport taking over the entry previously held by AWA.
Elsewhere, Kessel Racing will expand to a second Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, effectively replacing Ziggo Sport Tempesta in the Italian marque’s roster.
Further, Garage59 will enter a pair of McLaren 720s GT3 Evos, having taken over the running of the British manufacturer’s LMGT3 programme from United Autosports, which is directing its attention to its 2027 Hypercar programme.
In all, nine manufacturers will be represented in the LMGT3 class at Le Mans: Corvette, McLaren, Ferrari, Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Lexus and Ferrari.
Of those, only BMW, Ford and Lexus will stick to their regular two-car WEC entries, while the remaining manufacturers expand their presence for Le Mans.
Porsche will head to La Sarthe as the reigning LMGT3 champion, having been unbeaten since the introduction of the class at Le Mans in 2024.
There are also nine cars on the reserve list, split between five LMP2s and four LMGT3s.
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